Page 3 of Bear It All
Once the door closed behind her, I took the chance to walk closer until I was just outside her space. With my back against the wall, I could fully breathe her in. My mate was right there, the wall between us nothing but plaster that I could rip through in an instant. I had gotten a glimpse when she opened the door—it was a single suite, which I was grateful for. The idea of anyone else sharing such an intimate space with my mate, man or woman, was too much for me.
She was mine, and until she and the rest of the world knew it, I wouldn’t tolerate anyone getting near her.
Since that day, I’d kept a close eye on her. I had memorized her class schedule, her study habits, and what times she chose to eat her meals. My mate may not have known who she was to me yet, but I would make sure I knew everything about her, her likes and dislikes, routines and preferences. I would make sure that she was protected until I could make her mine.
A breeze swept through the cafeteria, jerking me back to the present as it teased me with echoes of her scent. Gritting my teeth, I watched as Freya dropped her tray in the bin unceremoniously before slipping out of the room. I wanted to howl in anger, hating that she was no longer within reach.Just a little more time,I told myself. I would give Freya just a bit longer before I made her mine forever.
Chapter 3
Freya
After my encounter with Bianca, the torrent of unleashed powers inside of me made its presence known. It started as an itch under my skin—one I couldn’t control. It became my constant companion, and in the week since our bathroom run-in, the discomfort had only grown stronger. My powers wanted out, and that would happen with or without my permission if I didn’t do something soon.
I was an Element. Unlike most of my species, I didn’t belong to one, but all four. And harnessing that power was vital. The strength that came from being so tightly bound to the earth produced power unheard of. So, each day, I had to use my powers. Otherwise, they built up, and disasters could happen.
Growing up, using my powers was like homework for me. In retrospect, I had a very unconventional upbringing, but I never knew anything else. We moved all the time, and I never went to a traditional school. My father was a language expert and wrote textbooks for a living. Due to my parents’ aggressiveapproach to homeschooling, I was fluent in French, Italian, Russian, and Polish.
Every day, mixed in with my school work, language studies, and supernatural lessons, my parents took me outside for energy releases. I guess, to some, it was weird for a six-year-old to have to play with fire every day. I loved our life, and I didn’t know anything was wrong until it was too late. I didn’t realize that not going to school or moving every other year was unusual. I didn’t know that not every kid could control the wind.
Once I passed through the university gates, though, I had gotten sloppy, careless. I let my grief and social anxiety distract me. I had forgotten my parents’ lessons, burying my real self too deeply behind a mask of normalcy. I allowed fear to control me, and it was coming to bite me in the ass. Too afraid to draw attention from peers or teachers, I hadn’t gone out enough, hadn’t done my daily purges.
I was close to surpassing my limits, the powers threatening to rip my body in every direction and suck the energy out. If that happened, it would leave me weak and vulnerable, with mass destruction in my wake. The urgency couldn’t be ignored. I had to do something about it. Deciding to cut my afternoon classes, I headed for the cemetery. It was a spot I found comfort in, as it was remote and peaceful.
The fact that it bordered on the forest was a plus, providing me with coverage and a degree of privacy. Among the tall trees and vine-covered graves, Icould work on my powers and center myself in a safe spot. As I passed between the cemetery gates, that itch turned into a burn, and urgency rushed through me. Spotting a mausoleum, I ducked behind it, dropping my book bag hastily. Falling to my knees, my fingers instinctually dug into the dirt, the soil becoming electrified underneath my fingertips.
As soon as my hands penetrated the earth, everything sparked to life. Roots reached for me, worms clambered closer, and seeds swelled. I closed my eyes and felt around, giving nutrients and power to the trees and plants I felt suffering. They soaked the energy up swiftly, greedily, but I wasn’t finished, and they weren’t done with me. Everything in the nearby area was summoned to me, the elements growing stronger, their calls clawing at my skin.
“Feed us,” the wind whispered as my fingertips burned.
My body felt full to the brim, stacked high with energy. Things were about to take a dark turn. The soil no longer flourished under my hands, but instead boiled before turning to dust beneath me. A harsh scream was ripped from my mouth as the winds grew stronger, wrapping themselves and anything in the nearby area around me. The ground was trying to suck me under as the wind trapped me in place. Heat ran through my body from my fingertips to my toes, my skin ready to burst into flames.
Flashes of lightning streaked the clear sky, sending bursts of light to my already skewed vision.When I tried to call on water to douse the fire rising within me, the droplets merely dissolved. The air sizzled around me, the water evaporating before it could even touch my skin. Fear ran through me. I knew that if I didn’t get it under control soon, something disastrous could happen.
Horrible visions flashed through my mind.The school, engulfed in flames. The earth ripping open and sucking the buildings into the ground.The winds were circling me, trapping me in the center of a building cyclone. There was too much happening at once. I was overloaded on every level, somehow both confined and splitting apart at the same time.
Rocks, twigs, and leaves were getting caught up in the furor now, getting sucked into the orbit of magic surrounding me. A burning sensation slashed across my forehead, followed by the familiar taste of copper. It was clear I had been slashed by debris caught up in the maelstrom of magic I had trapped myself in. Even the shock of skin splitting apart, blood running down my face, wasn’t enough to get me out of the magical hold I was locked in.
Right as I was about to black out, give in to the power getting sucked out of my pores, a pair of bone-breaking arms wrapped around me, cold and muscular. It felt like concrete snakes from hell, but they were the only thing strong enough to rescue me from the mess of my own creation. An inhuman roar came from behind me, and finally, my body was ripped from the ground, the dirt spitting my hands out with a velocity that startled me, quicklyfollowed by the wind’s abrupt death.
Heat was still crawling over my skin, but it was slowly being chased away by a coolness unlike anything I had ever felt before. I sagged as everything died down, the power fully leached from my body. Impossibly strong arms closed around me and lifted me. The distance from the ground felt massive. Exhaustion dragged at me, and black spots clouded my eyes.
Using the last of my energy, I forced my eyes open, needing to know who my savior was.How did they find me? Did they know what I was?With shock, I found myself looking up at Mikhail’s achingly beautiful face, all sharp angles and intensity radiating from him. Instinctually, I curled in on myself, afraid that anger was aimed at me. I quickly realized he was looking around us, as if ready to attack anything that came near. Once he saw that my eyes were open, that I could see him, he leaned down, nuzzling his cheek against mine before he murmured one word.
“Mine.”
Chapter 4
Mikhail
Carrying Freya’s limp form out of the graveyard had a multitude of emotions running through me. My beast was simultaneously unsettled and ecstatic that we had her safely in our arms. I had dreamed of holding her like that, having her body close to mine, but I never imagined it would happen under those circumstances. Nothing could have prepared me for the state I found her in, and I was still struggling to process what I had just witnessed.
Afternoon classes had started, and I quickly became aware that Freya wasn’t in her physics class across the hall from me. Since she had started at the university, I had memorized her schedule. After that first night, I checked that she was safe in her room every night before bed. I tried to time my day to make sure I saw Freya on her way to each class.
My heart pounded in my chest, filled with the need to know where my mate was. When I caught sight of Freya quickly crossing the courtyard, I only had a moment of relief. Her form was hunched, she seemed rushed and in pain, and it had all my alarmsgoing off. Professor Harvey was droning on about statistics when I abruptly stood up from my chair.
“Bathroom,” I grumbled, and watched as Harvey paled slightly, barely hiding a wince as my bear waited for him to submit. I was throwing off alpha commands, my powers on the fritz because I was afraid of what Freya was getting herself into.
As soon as I got outside, all of my senses went on high alert. Everything felt off. The sun was out, but the air smelled like rain, and lightning streaked the clear sky. There was a vibration under my feet, as if the grass and trees around me were coming alive all at once. I jogged toward the graveyard, struggling to keep my bear leashed. He was ready to shed the human skin and burst through, find, and claim our mate.
